The Ultimate Fighting Championship has suspended one of its fighters after he went on a transphobic rant against transgender fighter, Fallon Fox.

In an interview with The MMA Hour on Monday, mixed martial artist Matt Mitrione went on a tirade against Fox, whom he repeatedly referred to as a man. Fox transitioned ten years ago but came out as a transgender woman earlier last month after facing pressure from a reporter.

According to MMA Fighting, after viewing Fox’s fight videos, Mitrione said he hadn’t “seen a man beat a woman like that since Chris Brown beat Rihanna.”

When host Ariel Helwani asked Mitrione, “Why do you hate Fallon Fox so much, and why do you keep calling she a ‘he’?”, he responded:

“Because she’s not a he. He’s a he,” he said. “He’s chromosomally a man. He had a gender change, not a sex change. He’s still a man. He was a man for 31 years. Thirty-one years. That’s a couple years younger than I am. He’s a man. Six years of taking performance de-hancing drugs, you think is going to change all that? That’s ridiculous.

“That is a lying, sick, sociopathic, disgusting freak,” he continued. “And I mean that. Because you lied on your license to beat up women. That’s disgusting. You should be embarrassed yourself. And the fact that Florida licensed him because California licensed him or whoever the hell did it, it’s an embarrassment to us as fighters, as a sport, and we all should protest that. The woman that’s fighting him, props to you. I hope you beat his ass, and I hope he gets blackballed and never fights again, because that’s disgusting and I’m appalled by that.”

Commendably, the UFC acted swiftly and decidedly, issuing the following statement later that day:

The UFC was appalled by the transphobic comments made by heavyweight Matt Mitrione today in an interview on ‘The MMA Hour.’The organization finds Mr. Mitrione’s comments offensive and wholly unacceptable and – as a direct result of this significant breach of the UFC’s code of conduct – Mr. Mitrione’s UFC contract has been suspended and the incident is being investigated. The UFC is a friend and ally of the LGBT community, and expects and requires all 450 of its athletes to treat others with dignity and respect.

Despite the unforgivable number of LGB persons and allies who neglect to advocate for the Trans* community, the UFC- most surprisingly- trumpets a message of hope.

Apr 10, 2013 at 9:09 am · @Reply ·

vklortho

I am glad the UFC did this. It makes me mad knowing that certain jerks think this is an acceptable way to talk about a group of people.

Apr 10, 2013 at 9:24 am · @Reply ·

Thedrdonna

@Michael: There’s a number of folks on the Internet who wail about trans* inclusion, but I don’t think it’s fair to paint the vast majority of both LGB individuals and LGBT organizations that way. Even in the past decade, a huge amount of progress has been made, and most queer folks are extraordinarily supportive. Just sayin’.

@Thedrdonna: to be fair, I never referred to it as a majority or a minority. Also, while I agree that trans* issues are becoming more ubiquitous as of recent, I would still argue that it’s a largely neglected community, and often left out entirely in the frameworks of LGBT equal rights.

The HRC perpetually spurns and concedes trans* initiatives and victories, Dan Savage- in addition to being an outspoken transphobe- has yet to bat an eye at Trans* suicides, celebrities like Lady Gaga and Katy Perry glamorize and misrepresent the struggle for trans* equality, and most of the gay/ally community has yet to conceive of marriage equality, the prison system, intersectionality, the meducal profession, or other potentially damaging systemic issues within the trans* narrative.

While we can both speak from personal experience as to how supportive the LGB community is, I’d wager to bet that many allies and organizations are totally and unacceptably in the dark. And it’s pretty self evident, given how little we see stories like this in the news, how much momentum- nay attention- the trans* movement has been able to garner. Things like this, are, however, a fantastic step in the right direction, and I do hope query continues to create relevant trans* conversations.

Apr 10, 2013 at 10:53 am · @Reply ·

tdx3fan

The MMA is WWE in a different package. This whole storyline is probably presented for no other reason than to stir controversy and sell tickets. That being said, it is entirely unfair that a woman who is built like and born as a man should be able to fight against other women. I agree with is sentiment but not with this word choice.

Apr 10, 2013 at 11:18 am · @Reply ·

Thedrdonna

@tdx3fan: Way to gloss over the professional opinions of the doctors and scientists who have studied all of this before. She’s legally licensed, and any advantages she may have had are gone after more than a decade of hormone therapy. That’s how hormones work.

Apr 10, 2013 at 11:21 am · @Reply ·

tdx3fan

@Michael: LGBT is a myth in and of itself, but I can guarantee you that the real person that gets excluded first is the B not the T. That being said, the T is not supportive of the other three, but they have no qualms about demanding that we be supportive of the T.

I feel everyone should have the right to live their life the way that they want to live their life until it starts impacting the lives of others. At that point, we need to start to discuss and impose clear guidelines. The problem with transgendered people is they do not want to change only their gender but also their entire identity. They want to become part of a world that they do not actually belong to. That is only heightened when you hear story after story of trans women lying to straight men about who they really are in order to bed them.

Apr 10, 2013 at 11:23 am · @Reply ·

tdx3fan

@Thedrdonna: Really, you mean to tell me that the growth you have achieved in 31 years of life as a male is suddenly negated by hormone therapy. Yes, she may not have testosterone, but men are normally larger than women. She was a man for 31 years before she decided to become a woman. Oh, and you better believe that I will gloss over the work of countless doctors who had an agenda, much like I discard junk science from the Christian right. First thing any educated person learns is that doctors and scientists are wrong about 95% of the time.

Apr 10, 2013 at 11:26 am · @Reply ·

Thedrdonna

@tdx3fan: Well, good luck with that. I enjoy the fruits of thousands of years of progress in the medical sciences, but if you’d rather die of an easily treatable infection that’s your prerogative.

And yes, I do believe that after ten years her advantages are gone. I believe it happens after two years. I know the effects from firsthand experience.

Apr 10, 2013 at 11:33 am · @Reply ·

tdx3fan

@Thedrdonna: There is a huge difference between accepted medical science in the treatment and control of diseases and science that is done with an agenda. Since most of the studies involving trans individuals are done by those that are positive of the community it is quite obvious that they are all bias. That is not saying that they have no merit, it just makes them easier to dismiss.

You seriously mean to tell me that a 6’2″ woman that weighs 180 pounds has no advantage over a 5’6″ woman that weighs 140 pounds. Just throwing those numbers out there. You can claim hormones all you want, but you know that most transgendered individuals still have the body TYPE that they were born with and that is where the problem comes in here. Also, this is MMA I can almost guarantee you that most of these women have never had a period and any steroids would completely undo your arguments about hormonal therapy.

Apr 10, 2013 at 11:55 am · @Reply ·

Thedrdonna

@tdx3fan: Actually, most medical science over the past 50 years has been focused on forcing trans people to go back in the closet, and on setting up barriers to prevent trans folk from getting the treatments they need. That’s slowly changing, moreso in the past 10-15 years, but to claim that medical research in the area has been solely supportive speaks of a blinding level of ignorance on the subject.

And yes, someone who is trans may have a better reach, or bigger bones. That’s coupled with female-normal or lower muscle mass (due to the fact that trans women on testosterone blockers actually have less T in their system, which means less muscle mass). Given that MMA is sorted by weight, this means she is fighting women who have more muscle mass and less bone than her. They’ll be faster, and their muscles would be more proportional to their bone structure. That hardly sounds like a clear advantage to me.

Apr 10, 2013 at 12:13 pm · @Reply ·

tdx3fan

@Thedrdonna: My biggest problem in life is that I do not know when I should stop talking. Truly, you have schooled me on this subject. I definitely never agreed with how he said what he said, but now I do not even agree with the point of what he said. I am completely trans-inclusive. I feel that trans people should be able to live life to the fullest. My only possible issue would be with dishonest trans people (that are not out front and honest about who they are with their sexual partners), but there plenty of dishonest people from all areas, so I will realize that is more a problem with dishonesty than with trans people.

Apr 10, 2013 at 6:20 pm · @Reply ·

Teleny

I am a transwoman and applaud what the UFC has done. Trans phobia is often treated as a joke, rather than the hate that it actually is…

As a transwoman, I disagree with Ms. Fox’s choice to continue fighting. While I think we are women (or men ftm) we do bring our past with us. I wonder if Fox had training advantages from before she transitioned. She has the right to do this, but it would not be choice I would make. Perhaps this is all she can do? Trans folk have a heck of a hard time finding legit employment.

Finally, glbt is not an illusion. We have a shared past, present and future! Oscar Wilde hung with people who would now be identified as trans. Radclyffe Hall was a gender transgressor. I just finished reading Neil McKennas “Fanny & Stella” about the most fantastic glbt trial of the 19th century. Our community also was out on force during the Harlem drag balls of the 30s to the Stonewall Riots. We are an old and fabulous community!

Apr 10, 2013 at 11:01 pm · @Reply ·

Hlots11

Great. Now, if they’d just show some courage and do the same thing to Ronda Rousey for publicly agreeing with him.

Apr 11, 2013 at 12:11 pm · @Reply ·

DOFEK

Ho well! what can once expecting from a fucking Christian?. AdamHomo (PS, he think he is white.